We are considering the purchase of IBM Notes 9 and Connections as a replacement for our Microsoft Exchange 2007 and SharePoint 2010 platforms. Is anyone using IBM Notes 9 that would like to share the good and bad aspects of the platform? Has anyone migrated from Exchange using the new migration tool? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Using notes 9.0 in a lot of places but connections still under some testing.

the experience with users is similar to above, some people love it some hate it, but when ever you change even in the same product people dislike having to get used to a new way to work.

Notes 9.0 is reasonablly reliable in comparison to outlook 2013. Works well remotely. Built in encryption and compression for remote works plus still best of breed when it comes to replication.

server side multi non geographical clustering with near real time replication works well for high availability of system.

it is possible to keep using outlook to access domino mail but looses a few functions, the damo client isn't fully supported any longer but hopefully they will be coming out with an equivelant in the future. It still works but just no support for issues.

applications to supply basic functions like time sheets basic information stores are easy to create and adapt, don't need to put everything into sharepoint equivelant, just use the right tool for the job.

connections and files is based upon we sphere not domino server so is moving into a slightly different server platform but does integrte well with notes 9 , outlook and office. It has lots of connectors to allow file management straight from applications.

the new document management system will be based upon connections content manager and works well with OS and apps through a good selection of connectors. Can't comment on its large scale use yet as just looking into implementation myself.

overall the pros and cons of both systems even out and a lot comes down to your companies individual requirements that can make one system an overriding pro or con.

I like that domino with connections is easier to adapt to a specification and has multiple options within one system. Exchange and sharepoint is Microsoft, which means no one will dare to disagree as it is flavour of the decade, well until apple comes up with an equivelant.

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We run Notes 9 clients, albeit against Domino 8.5.3 servers. We don't run Connections (though we have licenses for some of it as part of our Domino license). We would upgrade the servers to 9 too, but one of them runs the Sametime server which hasn't yet been updated to support 64bit windows (allegedly it is supported, but we had trouble persuading it to work).

Notes is a funny platform. Some people love it, others hate it. From an IT point of view I like it a lot - we have two sites each with a server running as part of a cluster. The cluster is very easy to configure and requires no management, and the clients are cluster aware and switch to the other cluster member more or less silently. The Traveler mobile support works well with iPhones (and Android, though the custom apps they provide there are not to my liking so we just use Android's built in active sync support). Development, once you are familiar, can be pretty rapid for Notes client apps, though beware that there is no relational database here - Notes databases are flat. So quick form based apps are easy to build, but more complex transactional stuff can be challenging.

There's no escaping the fact that Notes/Domino is much milnged and often considered a legacy platform. This is justifiable in some cases, but unfair in others. It has a lot going for it, but suffers from carrying the baggage of many years of backward compatibility (which is also an advantage of course). It is much more common to see people migrating away from Notes, and we have a strong contingent here who would like to. In looking at other systems and services we often find that Notes integration is not offered, or if it is it is not as well supported as Outlook. Finding development and admin resources for Notes is also getting harder, in my experience.

Also be clear that Notes 9 is not a totally new release - it is very much Notes 8.5.4, and the switch to it being called 9 was a marketing choice made by IBM (IMO). It looks more modern than 8.5.3 did, is a bit faster and has some hooks for Social collaboration built in (not that it offers anything off the shelf in that area unless you run Connections). So don't let anyone tell you that Notes 9 is a new platform, as it isn't!

I've just re-read the above and it's a bit rambling, but hopefully it helps. I'm curious what the driver might be to move from Outlook/Exchange to Notes/Domino?

I forgot to add - if you are used to using MS Office integration with Sharepoint, which is pretty seamless in my experience, be prepared to give it up. Connections may offer good integration (or may not) but Notes does not.

Using notes 9.0 in a lot of places but connections still under some testing.

the experience with users is similar to above, some people love it some hate it, but when ever you change even in the same product people dislike having to get used to a new way to work.

Notes 9.0 is reasonablly reliable in comparison to outlook 2013. Works well remotely. Built in encryption and compression for remote works plus still best of breed when it comes to replication.

server side multi non geographical clustering with near real time replication works well for high availability of system.

it is possible to keep using outlook to access domino mail but looses a few functions, the damo client isn't fully supported any longer but hopefully they will be coming out with an equivelant in the future. It still works but just no support for issues.

applications to supply basic functions like time sheets basic information stores are easy to create and adapt, don't need to put everything into sharepoint equivelant, just use the right tool for the job.

connections and files is based upon we sphere not domino server so is moving into a slightly different server platform but does integrte well with notes 9 , outlook and office. It has lots of connectors to allow file management straight from applications.

the new document management system will be based upon connections content manager and works well with OS and apps through a good selection of connectors. Can't comment on its large scale use yet as just looking into implementation myself.

overall the pros and cons of both systems even out and a lot comes down to your companies individual requirements that can make one system an overriding pro or con.

I like that domino with connections is easier to adapt to a specification and has multiple options within one system. Exchange and sharepoint is Microsoft, which means no one will dare to disagree as it is flavour of the decade, well until apple comes up with an equivelant.

We are considering IBM Notes because it is a lot less expensive for us than Microsoft would be. IBM offers us an educational discount (we are a not-for-profit in a consortium with local Universities and colleges). Microsoft does not offer us good pricing even though we get funding from BIll and Melinda Gates Foundations (ironic, huh?).

I have always hated the PST archive fiasco that Microsoft created and want to move to a server-side archive solution (I know that Exchange 2013 has this as a feature with the highest license level, but again the cost is about 6x what Notes would be for us.)

Also, SharePoint is not very good at sharing. Connections seems to be a fantastic solution and the fact that it integrates with Notes is compelling. I also love the new modern look of the Notes 9 interface. We also want to move away from fat clients and it burns me that Microsoft refuses to put effort into their web client because people would stop buying Outlook if they did. IBM's license model makes it so they don't care and have gone to great lengths to ensure iNotes is almost feature parallel with the Notes client.

All this sounds great on paper, but only you guys with the platform in production can tell me if it is all it seems.

Other than Mail, Calendars, Contact and the files/Social stuff in Connections what else do you want to do with it?

If I discount the general trend to move away from Notes (which isn't as pronounced as some people make out) then I'd say you will be happy with Notes, particularly if you get the initial set up all right (ID vault, policies - see below, etc.). iNotes is pretty feature rich, especially in 9 though I've no idea if you get any of the Connections integration (you may, I just don't know).

Another nice feature is the policy management, which allows you to control almost every aspect of the client configuration from the server. I use it extensively, and I don't know of an equivalent feature in Exchange (granted I left my last Exchange role before 2013 was out so I might be out of date, but I suspect it's GPO management for Outlook?).

As Derrick mentioned, Sametime IM is pretty solid, even the 'free' bundled edition that we run.

If you would find it useful, I would be happy to do a 15 min GotoMeeting to show you our (relatively simple) setup - you could see the Admin tool and get a feel for how it all hangs together. As I've said I don't have Connections, so couldn't show that. Let me know.

I am using Notes/Domino 9 and it is a good product but if you are looking at Notes 9 then I would recommend looking at IBM Smartcloud as well. There are clear advantages to cutting infrastructure costs using the hosted version.

Also, Office365 is an excellent option and the migration would be much easier from Exchange 2007.

Server based archiving is built in. Individual mailbox backups make recovery of individual mail boxes or mails easy. Clustering no extra cost on express. The bundled IBM connections has some limitations on file sharing for personal not group use but with education license this can be removed. Inotes runs out of box and is feature rich. Traveler makes apple and google devices usable no extra cost or setup. There is also the notes in browser plugin that allows a full notes client in a browser to access databases like a normal notes client. Again all standard as part of server.

Using everything apart from connections in 9 with a lot of clients and everyone is happy with the solution. Issues are usually the same with any system a client has and normally down to the chair to keyboard interface error...

We have a single site (currently) and less than 100 staff. A hosted solution is not an option for us (due mostly to government grant restrictions). We want to move away from Microsoft even though we understand there is less support for other platforms, including Notes. If everyone stays on Exchange (a lesser product than many we have tested) support for other platforms will never happen. It is our hope that because IBM is huge and Notes has been around for a while that it has a better chance than most to get better industry support. Especially since IBM just spent $100M and 18 months of development effort into Notes 9.

Our plan is to use it for Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and integrate a full Connections server (for both our Intranet and our project websites that currently use SharePoint). We also want to use the entitlements for Sametime for chat and presence and have been advised to setup a server (virtual) just for that. We can then decide later to license Sametime for its full feature set.

I appreciate the feedback from everyone. Has anyone migrated from Exchange to Notes recently? I would love to hear how that went for you given that would be our fist hurdle to adopting Notes.

Funny you should say that. I just installed it on a spare Linux Mint 15 box this morning. Gives me a spare machine on my desk for when I pop in without my laptop. Mint isn't supported, but as it is debian based it can be made to work, and once running it is exactly the same as running on the PC. Very cool.

We are using IBM Notes 9 and IBM connections. We about to revamp our website using Connections and roll out the mobile app to all iPads and oter devices.(virtual server) I'm just loving it.We using the archive feature on our current server and its free.

Sametime server the free edition for internal comms for now and when we done with the Connections project we upgrading the server to push out on Mobile devices.

Traveler is also free with the purchase of IBM Dominon Server ( Mobile emailing and Calender)

Oh and in traveler 9 you can manage youre mobile devices.

Upgrading to version 9 on the server and moving it to a LInux Box (CentOS) This weekend.

Databasing Function is also available with in Domino.

This is Some links you can look at for the Migration, unfortunately we had neva used Exchange:

1st Post

Hi Seth,

Hope you are doing well.

ShawnCB is right. IBM Notes 9 Notes provides a rich desktop experience that helps users locate, transform, and share content across geographically disbursed teams in real-time. It brings business data, the Internet, and people directly to the user, all integrated together through an intelligent email environment that helps simplify and streamline work by organizing and prioritizing tasks, prompting for actions to take, and connecting directly to information sources.

CORPORITS provides IT based business solutions to major industry sectors worldwide, offering CRM, Workflows, Document Management and mission- critical reporting and analysis (business intelligence and data management). All solutions are designed to allow communication via internal or external Web portals and support for all communication channel.

If you want more details about exchange and get quotation for this program, feel free to contact me.